On The Edge Of The World
Date: Thursday July 29, 2010Posted in: Emily, Graham, Honey, Nathan, me, vacating
I may have been born in Ontario, but my parents moved us West, to the north coast of BC when I was but a few months old. I grew up on the edge of the ocean, going fishing with my Dad on our wee boat and hiking along rugged coastlines covered in barnacles and seaweed and listening to the ocean roar on a daily basis. When I decided to leave home and make my break for a big city, I chose Vancouver. Beautiful, engaging and right on the edge of the ocean. I moved many times when I lived there but almost every apartment I rented was within walking distance of the ocean. I remember proudly declaring that I could never live away from the coast.
This, of course, was before I met Matthew and we decided to leave the craziness of the city for the chance at owning a big house on a large property so that our (future) children could have space to run and play. If he’d wanted to move anywhere other than here, there may have been some resistance on my part. Thankfully, the vast Lake Okanagan is as close as you can get to be an ocean while actually being on a lake.
It’s like the little lake that could.
The second half of our family vacation was spent at Cannon Beach, for those of you who aren’t Twitter/Facebook friends and/or have been too busy holidaying yourself to pay attention to the minor details. Why Cannon Beach? Well, we spent but an afternoon there last fall on our annual stateside shopping trip and fell in love. Having the chance to see my Kerri Anne yet again was an added bonus.
(Speaking of Kerri, please tell me that you read this post. Please make sure that you’re not drinking or eating while you read it, lest you choke. Consider yourselves warned. )
I mentioned that the first part of our vacation was not what you would call restful. We left Vancouver a day early (to escape the gnomes, and) in order to spend a night in Seattle so that we could be that much closer to our final destination on the day we got to check in to our cabin. We booked it to the Coast, unloaded our stuff and looked at the view and then made the three-minute trek down to the water.
Pretty, right?
Breathtaking, beautiful and BITTERLY COLD. I mean, I knew we wouldn’t be having the high temperatures that we’re used to in the Okanagan, but that ocean wind was pretty biting.
Nothing that a hoodie couldn’t remedy.
Thursday morning we woke up to gloomy, misty weather but the winds had stopped and it was a lot warmer.
The kids played in the sand and the mud while we watched the waves roll in and then Matthew decided to write in the sand. He started with my name, finished his creation and then stood up proudly, only to see my standing there laughing.
He quickly did an edit.
There was only so much mist and gloom that we could take and so we treated the kids to a movie (Despicable Me – my new favorite animated movie). The rest of the evening was spent in the cabin, teaching the kids how to play Scrabble, reading and just hanging out.
Friday, we headed into the city of Portland. We spent a couple of hours at Powell’s buying books, then fall clothes for the kids and then ended up at our ultimate destination: dinner at Deschutes with some of my good blog friends. Kerri’s been to my house before, so she’s met the family, but nobody else had. I got to see friends and friends got to meet the four biggest loves in my life. Win, win.
In the back with me is Amanda. Front row, left to right: Sarah, Vahid, Rhi and Kerri.
Miss Kerri and her little pug Iggy (he loves me) came to spend the delight of everyone. We talked, we walked, we sat, we took photos.
This one that that Kerri took of Emily and I makes me smile every time I even think about it.
Kerri and Iggy headed home in the late afternoon and the family and I headed down to the beach to take our family photo.
After supper, I went on a solo mission down to the beach to capture the sunset.
I was so amazing to just stand on the edge of the water and soak in the beauty.
So, yeah. Our family vacation was even more than we hoped for and our kids did so amazing (TWELVE HOUR drive home and not a single meltdown. NOT ONE) that we’ll definitely be going on another road trip next year. Will it be back to Cannon Beach? Yes. No. Maybe.
*More photos of our trip in this Flickr set
We may currently live in the buttpoke of nowhere in the Okanagan Valley, but once upon a time we lived in the bustling metropolis of Vancouver. I lived there from the ages of twenty to twenty-six, with the last year there spent as a newlywed. Every time I drive back into the city and experience its unique vibe I feel like a part of me is coming home.
When deciding where to go on our first! ever! vacation! that was not wrapped around spending a recognized holiday with extended family, we had originally thought about going to Mexico. We could easily buy a second house for the cost of taking the five of us to Mexico so, no. We asked the kids where we should vacate to and they instantly replied, “VANCOUVER”. They wanted to take in some of the attractions that their friends had gone to and I hadn’t been to a couple of them in the six years I lived there and, so. We made plans.
Before we started being the tacky tourists that you know we were, we stopped in at Matthew’s grandparents to (see them, and) enjoy their pool.
The two of them never use it themselves but their kids and grandkids and great-grandkids who live nearby are over there almost every day. We got to catch up with (Matthew’s) aunts and uncles and siblings that we rarely see while the kids flew through the air…
and jumped into the water
and played with their cousins
Speaking of (Dykstra) cousins, the kids see the two who live here pretty frequently but we only see the other ones a few times a year.
You’d never know it by how famously they all get along.
The three full days we spent in Vancouver were packed with visiting tourist attractions. Saturday was spent at Science World.
It was fun and super and amazing and whatnot, but was considered to be only slightly more exciting than the Sky Train in my kids’ eyes.
Who knew public transportation was so exciting?
Sunday was spent at the Greater Vancouver Zoo, walking and taking photos of everything that we saw.
See? Tacky tourists. (I kind of love this photo.)
Filed under: I am easily amused:
Filed under: I’m glad there’s a fence between us:
Monday was spent exploring Stanley Park, including the Aquarium. I had never been there before and I have to say that, despite the crowds, it’s worth the money to go to there.
The kids loved it too. Can’t you tell?
Seriously.
Our days were full of tourist attractions and our evenings were full of family dinners and I even managed to sneak in hosting the pre-BlogHer meetup while in Vancouver.
While I do love (cities in general, and especially) Vancouver, after four nights of fighting crowds and navigating traffic and finding parking and listening to sirens wail all night long…I was done. We were done. And so, we left Vancouver a day earlier and made a run for the border.
I’ve rambled on long enough and I have a lot to say about our time spent south of the border, so I think I’ll save the second half of our trip for another day. It only gets better from here, if you can even believe it.
Home Sweet Home
Date: Monday July 26, 2010Posted in: Emily, Family, Graham, Honey, Nathan, me, vacating
Team Dykstra spent nine nights and ten days together in close quarters and lived to tell about it.
Stories to follow once I recover from our epic TWELVE HOUR drive home yesterday and the many late nights we pulled. So…tomorrow? Maybe? Sometime before I leave for New York next Monday (!), I promise. I hope you all had as great of a week as we did.
How do I even begin to recap our trip to Las Vegas? I suppose the best way to attack this is to start at the beginning. And we’ll use titles because who doesn’t like organization? Nobody, that’s who.
Thursday
Thursday saw us leaving the house at 8 a.m. in order to drop the dudes off at school and head to the airport. International flights require you to be there two hours in advance and we live over an hour away, which means that by the time noon hit…we hadn’t even left the country yet. Eight hours and three flights after that startling revelation, we finally arrived at our hotel (The Mirage).
People had told us that the hotel was not only nice, but that it was in the perfect location – right in the center of the strip. Even our can driver told us that we had made a great choice. While Matthew checked us in, I got distracted by the hugest indoor aquarium I have ever seen. This is but one tiny snippet of it.
I cannot remember how many gallons of water it contains, but if I were Miss Emily I would go by her old standby: One thousand hundred billion hundred thousand. Or something.
We had told the hotel staff that it was our anniversary and they upgraded us to a beautiful room on the 23rd floor. Would you like to see the view?
That’s facing south down the strip.
Here’s the view after dark:
Not too shabby.
We quickly freshened up and headed downstairs. We had been told great things about the piano bar at Harrah’s across the street and had planned to take it in since it was already so late. I had mentioned this to a man in the elevator who had asked us our plans and he gently corrected me on my pronunciation – I had been pronouncing it as “Hurrah’s”. As in, “Hurrah! We’re in Las Vegas!” I kept slipping up with the pronunciation all weekend, but hey. Hurrah! We were in Las Vegas!
We acquired margaritas to go, headed out to the street and promptly decided that we should explore the strip instead of going inside another hotel.
Walking the strip was indeed a sight to see and before we knew it we had spent two hours wandering around the area close (“Close” in Vegas is not what it appears to be) to our hotel.
We had a lot of fun apart from the fact that I had worn strappy heels instead of comfortable shoes. We had planned to simply walk across the street! Our plans changed! Band-Aids from Walgreen’s saved the day! Eh, lesson learned.
Friday
You guys aren’t going to believe all that we crammed into Friday. Heck, I was there and I don’t even believe it. My feet are still cursing me and all of the walking I did.
Matthew had heard about this huge store (Bass Pro) that carries outdoorsy stuff. Seeing as he’s into hunting and fishing and all things manly, he really wanted to go to there. It was a little ways past the very south end of the strip so we hopped on the bus which took us to the smaller outlet mall. I walked around for, oh, almost two hours while he drooled over range finders and gun straps and whatnot. Being the frugal man he is and the fact that there were no real deals to be had, he met me back at the mall empty-handed. We had a quick lunch and then got on the bus to head back north.
Because we started at the end of the line, we managed to snag front row seats on the top level of the double decker bus. Yeehaw.
We saw “the” Las Vegas sign.
We had a great view of New York, New York
We had a great view of everything, really.
(That’s M&M World, etc. – we went in there on Sunday.)
Being the geniuses we are, we thought we should maybe get all of our planned shopping done and over with. This saw us stopping at our hotel to drop off my purchases and then getting back on the bus and going to the very north end of the strip to where the Premium Outlet Mall is. Two more hours of walking and shopping and all of our “must-buys” were crossed off of the list.
THEN, to further prove our intelligence, we thought that since we were already in the area, we should explore Fremont street (Old Vegas).
We grabbed dinner, asked what time the lights came on and found out we’d have to wait two hours. Um, no. As much as I’d love to have seen the full light display, my feet had been on the go for over nine hours straight. We headed back to the hotel, filled up our margarita containers and…hit the street again. Lest you think that we’re completely insane, we merely sauntered across the street to the Harrah’s Piano Bar. (Hurrah!) If you ever go to Vegas, I highly recommend it – a lot of singing and a lot of laughing.
Saturday
We had planned on lounging by the pool for a few hours but we slept in until nine. Nine! NINE. I can’t remember the last time I slept in that late. Maybe when we went to Mexico? Two years ago? Anyway, by the time we pulled ourselves together and grabbed breakfast there was not a single empty deck chair to be found. So, we did what we knew best – we bought a bus pass and went exploring. I KNOW.
We decided to check out the Miracle Mile because, you know, we hadn’t done enough shopping the day before. Good grief. We ate lunch on the patio of a Mexican restaurant and basked in the sun while people watching. I like people watching in general, but people watching in Vegas takes it to an entirely new level.
We wandered across the street to the Bellagio. We had heard nothing but good things about their atrium and fountains, and had tickets to see O that same night, so we thought we best know where exactly we would be going. Upon walking through the lobby and catching a glimpse of the atrium, my mind was instantly blown.
The atrium is amazing.
So is the lobby ceiling.
We headed back to the hotel to change, grab some dinner, and head back to see our very! first! Cirque du Soleil show! We had picked seats that were basically smack in the middle of the theater and I was in awe of the view we had. The show itself left me gasping at some of the stunts and applauding many times over.
I think they should rename O “OMG” because that’s what I was thinking as I walked out of there. We got outside just in time to catch one of the fountain shows.
(I have approximately thirty photos of the fountain show alone. It’s hard to delete any of them because water + lights = pretty.
Sunday
The weather was a little bit cooler which meant that us hearty Canadians were finally able to find a chair by the pool. Two hours of sitting in the sun with a book was exactly what my body (especially my feet) needed.
The afternoon saw us exploring. Again. Despite the fact that my hips and ankles had now joined the chorus of, “CAN YOU PLEASE STOP WALKING ALREADY?” We headed back to the south end of the strip where we checked out Coca-Cola World, bought M&M’s in each of the kids’ favorite colors at M&M World and went into the MGM Grand to see the tigers.
Nice kitties.
We finally wandered through New York, New York and loved the food court design.
We had planned on eating dinner at Nine Fine Irishmen but we ended up at the hotel in the early afternoon and had no desire to walk anymore. At all. Ever. We did manage to make it to the bus stop and back to the hotel where we freshened up, grabbed dinner at the burger joint downstairs and mutually agreed that the only walking we would be doing for the rest of the evening would be back up to our room in order to relax.
Honey watched a basketball game, I started going through photos and slapped up a quick post and then we curled up together with the bottle of champagne that the hotel had sent up for our anniversary and watched LOST. The perfect end to a perfect weekend. Well, apart from the fact that we still don’t know what LOST was really about.
Monday
Another twelve-hour travel day which included a three-hour layover in Seattle (Which gave me time to edit photos and draft the bulk of this epic recap). It’s great to be home with our three little munchkins and I’m looking forward to getting back into our routine. As much as I love to travel and to see new places, I love coming home that much more. My feet are pretty happy too.
*More photos will be on Flickr this week as I go through them and throw them up there.
We’re here! Well, we arrived here three days ago in case you thought we got lost in transit or something. Like some pieces of wayward luggage who took a roundabout way to get here, but no! We got here safe and sound.
We’ve been on the go from the moment we get up until the moment we crawl into bed and lest you think I am exaggerating, you should see my feet. Except that you really shouldn’t see my feet because trust me, they aren’t very pretty right now. I took everyone’s advice about comfortable footwear. I did. But when you go from wearing socks and shoes to (Comfortable!) sandals it doesn’t really help that they are luxurious in their support because they are rubbing your feet in areas that have not been rubbed since last summer and, yeah. Band-Aids and I are tighter than a ballet bun.
I’ve taken a few hundred photos but haven’t had a single moment to look at them other that through the LCD display on my camera. It looks like I may get the chance tonight before we leave because:
1. The storm clouds have rolled in and it is COLD out there. I’m guessing my Canadian friends were jealous of my “It’s so HOT” Tweets and wished their weather upon us.
2. Not only do our feet hurt – you can add to the pain list our hips, calves and ankles. I told Honey this morning that I may just start rolling everywhere and if he had dared me to I totally would have. If only to give my lower body a break from the WALKING.
3. We’re kind of DONE. When I finally get through the photos and tell you what we crammed into our days, you are all going to tell me that I’m CRAZY. Nothing new, yes, but still. My body has literally thrown up the white flag and asked me to stop with the physical torture. It’s promised to listen to me more often if I will show it some mercy.
I knew from the LCD display that this photo my be my new favorite of us and when I opened it now, my suspicions were confirmed.
See you on the other side, friends. I can’t wait to tell you all about it.
Next month, Matthew and I will celebrate our 10th (!) wedding anniversary. It seems like a pretty great reason to celebrate on a larger scale than the usual dinner out, followed by a trip to Costco.
At first we thought we would take a family vacation to Mexico. We started checking prices and, yeah. Not in our budget. We could buy a small car for the cost of taking a family of five to Mexico. The dream of a family vacation hasn’t died; it’s just been changed to encompass some sightseeing in Vancouver and a few nights in a cottage at Cannon Beach.
Matthew and I still wanted to plan something a little bigger than the norm for this marriage milestone and then my sister Dayna offered to come up and watch our kids for the May long weekend so we could get away just the two of us. We tossed around a few ideas and then Matthew suggested something brilliant:
LAS VEGAS.
Neither of us have ever been and we have a number of friends who have been and loved it. We’re not gamblers at all, but I can’t wait to walk around, see some shows and take many (MANY) photos.
We’re spending four nights at The Mirage, which we’ve been told is quite nice and is stationed in the middle of the strip. We’ll have three full days to explore and I want it to be the best! trip! ever!
Here is where you lovely ladies and gents come in. I want to know how we can make this trip amazing. What shows should we see? Where should we eat? Are there any attractions that are a must? Are there secret places that only the locals know about that will blow our mind? Are there tips for doing all of these great things without emptying our bank account?
We need your help (I always need help, but this is different). Please? *Bats baby blues*
And regardless of whether you’ve been to Vegas or not, we need some book suggestions. We have a full day of travel on either side of those three days of exploring, and need to know what books to bring along. I read The Help in January (loved it), I am almost finished The Happiness project (love it) and have started Eating Animals (So far, so good). Any books you could recommend so that we can check the local library/order them off of Amazon?
I’m looking forward to what you have to share.
I’m also looking forward to VEGAS, BABY.
*Photo circa a post from 2007. I thought it was well-suited to show what hard-core partiers we are. (Ha!)
I’m sitting here feeling pretty much identical to how I felt last year while trying to sum up my California experience. Travel days aside, I had three full days of, well, awesome. Each day could be a post (or two) in itself but even then I’d miss explaining what made it so amazing. If you are a Flickr friend you may have seen the little blurbs attached to the photos and already have an idea of what I am talking about. I’m going to follow last year’s wrap-up technique of sharing some photos, talking a bit about them and then using my personal journal to capture the rest of it for myself.
First off I just want to state for the record that I love Southern California. I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember. Yes, there are many reasons that people have for hating it but I think there are infinitely more reasons to love it. There’s the sun, the sand, the ocean, the vibe. Each and every time I’ve come here my heart starts to smile the moment the plane starts its descent. I think I could be perfectly happy living here but I also love my home and community beyond belief, so. I’ll just have to settle for visiting here when the opportunity arises.
I got in on Thursday night and took a shuttle to casa Secret Agent Josephine. She was kind enough to save me some supper as LAX has nowhere to buy food on the arrivals level. What is up with that? Anyway, Brenda and I sat side by side on the couch both catching up and playing on dueling laptops. She introduced me to Unhappy Hipsters (Ha!) and The Oatmeal (I love the “How to Suck at Facebook” one. It’s funny because it’s true.) In the midst of this I notice that Kerri Anne was online – she’s in Beijing! We talked about what our respective times were and she said the best quote ever: “Dag, yo. This is awesome. I’m IN THE FUTURE.”
On Friday morning, Brenda, Bug and I meandered down to the small beach that’s carved out of the cliffs. We sat on the lifeguard tower, pulled out our respective moleskins and did some journaling. I kind of love the illustration she did of me.
We met up with Sarah and Wito, jetted to the mall for some Barnes & Noble time and lunch. I spent the afternoon with Sarah (Talking about anything and everything, and) teaching her the manual settings on her camera. I’m excited to see what she does with it.
That night we managed to sneak away without her boys for a dinner out together.
I just love her.
Saturday was a little less jam-packed, which was a nice break. I don’t sleep well (in general, or) when I’m away from home and I only managed to get a sum total of ten hours of sleep between Thursday and Friday nights. I spent Saturday morning sitting in the sun at a Starbucks and reading my book. Sir Danny picked me up for a belated birthday lunch and to present me with my belated birthday present.
If you know Danny at all, then you know that he started working at Oakley at the beginning of January. One of the (many) perks of his job is that he gets a limited number of sunglasses for FREE. Since I’m his Internet BFF and all of that, he asked me if I wanted a pair of said Oakleys. Kerri helped me pick out a set that (we thought) suited me when I was in Portland and I sent off my order. I’ve only ever bought cheap shades and now know why people cough up money for the brand name ones. They are the best. Sunglasses. EVER. He and I picked up our lunch from some deli and went and sat down at Laguna beach. Warm sunshine, cute puppies galore and great chats with my buddy. He’s just one more example that I really do have the raddest friends on the planet.
Saturday night was the dinner with everyone else. Brenda had to babysit but we had a great turnout of some fantastic people.
Rebecca, Sarah and Lisa.
Brandon and Danny.
Lena and Yvonne. Yvonne took some pretty awesome photos of the night.
Sunday was spent driving down to Oceanside to meet Bethany, Annalie and Jen for lunch and to sit on the beach for awhile. The evening was spent lounging on Sarah’s couch and playing Words With Friends against each other while watching the Grammys and realizing how old we truly are. I’d post more photos of the weekend but my brain is fried so I will kindly direct you to the Flickr set.
Monday was a full day of travel (I left her house at 7 a.m. and got home at 7 p.m.) but I am finally home. It’s fun to go away but it’s always so much better to be home. My family is a part of me and there were many times over the weekend where I physically ached…and a few times where I possibly cried. Sigh.
That’s all I’ve got, folks. It was a high level summary but I think you get the general idea. The rest of it will have to remain tucked inside of my heart for those days where I need a little bit of sunshine.
